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World Info
Life in the Isles The islands dominating the middle belt of the world are tropical, breezy, and always changing from heavy storms in one moment to clear skies minutes later. Hundreds of trade ships pass through the many channels daily and inhabitants are inundated with news, technology, and new travelers. With it, the islands are a veritable melting pot of ancestries and cultures and have been for hundreds of years. It is not uncommon for clans of dwarves to set up shop in a village mostly comprised of goblinoids, or for a group of firbolgs of the north to form a commune with their goliath cousins from the south. These types of communities, would be more uncommon, but not outlandish in the lands farther to the poles making for a group of strange bedfellows indeed. Over time, many of these communities, tribes, towns develop their own culture and language, making the more isolated ones a bit of a challenge to travel through if you do not have a companion speaking a universal pidgin. Most small villages in the isles rely on subsistence fishing and farming for their daily meals, while a dedicated few specialize in artistry, medicine or smithing/crafting. Larger ports and cities benefit from the large trade caravans passing through the area and focus more on fine craftsmanship and artistry. Several hundred years ago, trade bustled around the booming city of Clearharbor, overseeing the declining need for subsistence farming as a way of life, but the rising need for public defense as more trade ships meant more pirates and raids. A group of cities, villages, and ports formed the Sovereign Ports of Wahra, its capital centered on Clearharbor. They developed a parliamentary giant, regulating trade coming through the islands and providing defense for its member villages. Overtime, all except the boldest pirates would steer clear of raiding a village flying the Wharanese flag. This does not mean that danger has abandoned the isles as new threats lurk around every corner. From aggressive villages looking to increase their power, to the monsters of the land and sea, there will always be a strong need for heroes to keep the denizens of the islands safe. Hero Gods In the world of Sanquis the gods of the world came from three Ages. In the First Age, the worlds were formed by the coiling of great serpents made from the elements of planar chaos. When their bodies died they formed the mountains and the plains, the jungles and the oceans, deep winding tunnels of rock beneath the earth, and all the spaces in between. From their bodies came the Primordial Serpents, the beings that would rule. The Primordial Serpents’ draconic and reptiloid children began to walk the world and when those mortals would die their souls would drift among the Astral Sea on a trek to the Upper Planes. Along the way the souls would be devoured by the Serpents, save those few that could fit through the eye of a needle and reach the heavens, ruled by the Platinum Dragon. The only other ones who would be spared this fate are the souls who reached attunement with the natural world. Their souls would be drawn to the Beastlands where they would be welcomed by the World Serpent to a plane of untamed natural wonder, eventually being reincarnated to the material world, living many lives until they reached spiritual perfection. But for the rest of the world, mortals lived and died by the whims of the Primordial Serpents, being received in the Hells by the dragons of the Scaled Tyrant, in the Bleak Eternity of Gehenna by the children of the Cloaked Ophidian, or gripped by the endless arms of the Crawling King and dragged to the dark wastes of Hades. In the Second Age, a new eruption in planar chaos spawned new beings called the Ascendent Titans. Beings such as the Seelie and Unseelie Fey, the Queen of the Shadowfell, Titans who joined the World Serpent in the Beastlands, and the Giants: Haswar The Joyful Devourer, hill giant god and ruler of the Endless Battlefields of Acheron; Slysa the Barbed Crown, storm giant god and ruler of the Unending Storms of Pandemonium; Clembor the Maddening Wind, cloud giant god and ruler of Limbo the Ever-Changing Chaos; Drazanan The Final Keeper, fire giant god and ruler of the Prisons of Carceri; Iziar the Prince of Demons, frost giant god and Demon Lord of the Abyss; Mumir The Forgehammer, stone giant god, ruler of Mechanus, and creator of the Modrons, the only god of the giants to not wield their power for evil. With the Titans came their mortal offspring, elves and dwarves, gnomes and halflings, orcs and humans, goliaths, firbolgs, tritons, and more The Titans and their children overthrew the Serpents of the worlds. The Scaled Tyrant retreated to Hell. The yuanti fought for their gods and created the yugoloth hordes, they fight to this day from the realm of Gehenna. The world became murkier as the mortals’ souls became the foot soldiers of these wars, becoming the demons, shades, fey, giants, and other monstrous soldiers for the Titans. While less souls were devoured by the Serpents, when souls drifted through the Astral Sea, naturally drawn to the realms in which they are most closely aligned, they would all to often be taken by planes of the Titans, to be broken and remade. In the Third Age, power from the Upper Planes became infused with the Prime Material. Mortals of extreme might could wield this energy, gaining the power of lords. These mortals, with the help of an alliance from the Platinum Dragon and the Scaled Tyrant, forced the Titans back, trapping them and binding them to their realms. This period was referred to as the Age of Divinity and these mortals became the stuff of legend, they became the herogods who paved the way to the Upper Planes. The herogods would watch over the harvest and the seas, the sun and the moon, life and death and all domains in between. They granted their followers modicums of their power, a sailor invoking the name of Aroha the Goddess of Protection would feel blessed as they sailed far from home. In a new revelation these blessings could take physical form seen in divine magic. Some mortals blessed by the herogods would be granted the power to heal the sick, cure the blind, and even raise the dead. Now mortals would guarded from the hunger of the old gods, they would enter the Upper Planes when they passed. The deity they most patronized in life would welcome them in with open arms, be the deity good or evil. These thousands of heavens took entirely new shapes depending on herogod ruling the realm. For souls that sought out the bliss of the Upper Planes over planes like the Beastlands, Mechanus, or the Feywild, the path would be made safe and clear. When a soul arrived, but was not claimed by a god it would receive the judgement of the Platinum Dragon. For souls that were pure and good, they would remain in the celestial court, on guard against the threats that plague the worlds and be eventually reincarnated to the world as a noble metallic dragon. Those that failed judgement would be left to the whims of the planes. Either being taken by one of the Titans, or subject to the hunger of the Serpents.